Address perceived bias in corruption fight

ZAMBIA’S improved  Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score as highlighted  by Transparency International should not excite President Hakainde Hichilema and his colleagues in the New Dawn administration.
In our opinion, the CPI is merely a perception  and does not reflect the situation on the ground in terms of the actual fight against corruption and the policy measures put in place to combat  the vice and deter would-be offenders.
We say this because the Auditor General’s (AG) reports  that we have perused point to glaring irregularities that point to serious indications of widespread corruption in government, quasi-government institutions , and parastatals.
The 2023 Office of the Auditor General’s  Constituency Development Fund (CDF) audit is the most recent of such audits that demonstrate widespread corruption. The administration of CDF has significant governance flaws and poor performance, according to the report.
The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) , according to its  Director -General Francis Kapalu has also received almost 700 reports of illicit financial flows involving over US$ 3 billion.
These are some of the reasons why we say that  Zambia’s improved CPI score by two points, from 37 in 2023 to 39, should not excite those in government.
We are also getting increasingly worried about the growing number of reports we have received about corruption in the distribution of empowerment funds, including allegations  that some  officials responsible for administering the funds  are requesting sexual favours from women in return for the resources.. This is unacceptable under an administration that claims to uphold high levels of morals and integrity.
We , however, commend government for embarking on government reforms such as the digitization of the mining license application process, strengthened beneficial ownership requirements in procurement and the adoption of service charters in public institutions.
According to the 2024  CPI , Zambia has  moved six places on the ranking from 98 to 92 globally, the highest since 2012.
Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z) advocacy, policy and research manager Bright Chizonde noted that despite Zambia’s CPI score improvement, at 39 out of 100, it still falls below the global average of 43 adding that more has to be done for the country to improve.
In our opinion, more needs to be done to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and other institutions of governance so that they can start operating in an environment  devoid of political inference.
We also  implore the New Dawn Government to fight corruption involving some of its own officials  with the same vigour that it is using to combat the vice involving officials from the previous administration.
We are of the view that perceptions  that the crusade against corruption is targeted  at opposition leaders has tainted the fight against the vice under the New Dawn government. In our opinion, the government should pursue corruption with some semblance of equity, regardless of the parties involved, whether they are ruling or opposition , in order to help restore  public confidence  in the fight against corruption.
We also urge government to strengthened the law on the protection of whistleblowers to effectively fight corruption.
There are alarming reports that a whistleblower at the Ministry of Finance and National Planning was transferred to a rural area and removed  from the government payroll for exposing some influential corrupt officials. This should not be happening under an administration that claims to hate corruption . Whistleblowers should be protected to motivate them to report corruption cases  without fear of reprisals.
We urge the government to learn best practices from countries  like Georgia, which went from being among the most corrupt in the world to combatting corruption in its public sector with remarkable success!